FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT DRUG ADMINISTRATION - PAGE 5

Hallandale Beach police Friday identified three officers and the shoplifting suspect who was shot dead the previous night. Hallandale Beach Police Capt. Sonia Quinones said Eduardo Prieto, 32, of Hialeah, was shot by "highly trained" officers who have all served on the department's SWAT team. They are: Supervising officers Sgt. Timothy Church, 40, who has served with the agency since 1996, and Sgt. Brian Hubbert, 42, who joined the agency a year later; and Officer Raymond Buckley, 43, with the department since 2000.

In Sept. 9, 1975, William Osterhoudt, a local school principal, looked out at an implausible scene unfolding at the pink house belonging to his neighbor on United Street. Key West Fire Chief Joseph "Bum" Farto, wearing his trademark rose-tinted glasses, began to drive away in his lime-green luxury automobile, complete with spread-eagle gold hood ornament and front license plate bearing the words El Jefe, Spanish for "The Chief." Suddenly a car pulled in front of Farto. At the same time another blocked him from the rear.

Seven men were arrested on Wednesday and charged in connection with importing and distributing about 6,000 pounds of cocaine through Palm Beach, Broward, Monroe and Dade counties. Prosecutors described the bust as one of the largest trafficking cases that was not connected to the major drug cartels. The cocaine had a street value of up to $75 million. The investigation, which began two years ago, stemmed from a cocaine seizure by Boca Raton police. "We`ve identified the trafficking from the farm to the arms to the palms," said Bill Rosenblatt, Special Agent in Charge for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

Three men who police say are linked to the 1984 machine-gun slaying of a Hollywood man may be part of the ring of drug cartel hitmen that made its grisly debut in the 1979 Dadeland Mall murders. "This dates back to Dadeland. It`s all part of the same organization," Sgt. Al Singleton, a Metro-Dade homicide detective said on Friday. "We suspect they may be involved in the Dadeland killings." However, no charges have been filed against the three men in connection with the Dadeland Mall shootout, police said.

Florida calls it pet food, but people crave it and will go underground to get it. Florida allows the sale of unpasteurized milk only as pet food, yet while a growing number of people want raw milk for themselves, the state turns a blind eye. Nothing prohibits drinking raw milk. State officials acknowledge that there's an underground supply chain. People say it's a creamier, purer and healthier alternative to pasteurized milk. This year, about a dozen more farms statewide, a total of 46, registered to sell raw milk as "commercial feed.

Congratulations to the Food and Drug Administration for making it even easier to kill our babies. Despite scientific evidence that life begins at conception, despite the number of childless couples seeking to adopt, despite our "inalienable right to life," we are killing our babies at the rate of 4,000 lives a day. VIRGINIA RING Fort Lauderdale

A scientific advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration last week recommended that Taxol, the anti-cancer drug extracted fromThe yew tree, be approved for use against recurring breast cancer that has become resistant to other drugs. The recommendation is not binding on the FDA, but such recommendations are usually accepted by the regulatory body.

Aspirin labeled with warnings of a possible link between the pain killer and the often deadly Reye syndrome in children is reaching stores in time for the coming flu season, the government said Tuesday. Dr. Frank Young, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said the voluntary labeling and educational campaign initiated last winter is working well.